Case study – HM Pasties
- Saturday, November 23, 2024
- Posted By The Growth Company
HM Pasties was founded by Lee Wakeham, an ex-offender with a mission to support ex-offenders through work placements, skills and training.
HM Pasties was created to supply high quality, handmade traditional pasties and other baked goods to customers across the Northwest and provide real world social impact to its employees.
As a socially inclusive business, HM Pasties offers opportunities to members of our society that may otherwise be excluded, helping to improving self-confidence, mental health and future prospects for the lives of its employees.
HM Pasties source ingredients locally and from the Prison Estates but also employ ex-offenders into its manufacturing operations, sales and distribution departments. The business also offers support to enable them to build new careers and integrate back into society.
Lee has worked with Innovate UK Business Growth Senior Innovation and Growth specialist Michael (Mick) Hadfield for around two years, working across the business to build capacity and source investment to allow for sustained growth.
Mick said: “We developed a plan of action to cover all areas of the business with the main challenges around people, routes to market, innovative packaging and to be there for Lee to openly discuss the challenges of the business as it grows.”
“The challenge was to secure funding to unlock growth and expand into larger, more suitable premises after outgrowing the old site. There were challenges around where to source the funding and what type was most suited to the business model. There was also the need to recruit and train a core management team able to manage the day-to-day operations which would in turn free Lee to concentrate on the strategic aims of the business.”
As a result of the support provided the business has:
Lee said: “None of this would have been possible had we not been able to secure funding, Mick was a great help, he not only introduced us to the relevant organisations, but he also went to meet the investment manager and told him all about HM Pasties, and our social mission to employ people with criminal convictions.
“Mick's support meant that by the time we spoke to GMCA we were pushing against an open door. Mick has also assisted us on the operational side around packaging, design, barcoding and as a sounding board for myself.”